Cops and airplanes
Recently I took a mini vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my wife and two sons. During our stay, we took a day to visit the Orville and Wilbur Wright “First in Flight” memorial.
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The birth place of flight. A couple of guys who refused to accept that man was destined to wallow in this clump of mud called earth.
But they refused to give in to fear and naysayers who said that they would surely perish by trying such non-sense.
“If god wanted us to fly, he would have given us wings,” many skeptics would say.
It’s hard to imagine a world if it weren’t for Orville and Wilbur.
The same can be said about a world without the brave men and women who we call police officers (or deputies, constables, peace officers etc..)
“Cops Lip Syncing: A Final Farewell”
Without them our world would surely be like Mad Max and the Thunderdome, where deviant, marauding thugs would victimize the citizenry at will.
Many have ended up giving their lives for the protection of our people and our constitution.
And of course every cop and those who wish to become one knows the profession of policing comes with real and inherent risks.
I’m quite certain the Wright brothers also knew the dangers of flight.
A War
It’s strange how differently we look at the lives of police officers compared to just 20 years ago.
When the “war on drugs” began in the early eighties, cops were seen in the same light as combat soldiers and Marines. Grunts on the front line protecting us from the evils of the world.
One of those evils was crack cocaine.
It was a cheap and highly addictive form of cocaine that exploded in our urban centers and cities.
Its effects were devastating.
Crime, especially murder, was through the roof.
To say it was bad would be a gross understatement. Cops who worked during this period of american policing know how bad it really was.
It was terrible.
But they had the backing and respect of the american people to at least try to eradicate the problem.
Today it is different.
“Answer These Ten Questions First Before Becoming A Cop”
The left leaning, over the top biased and insidious news media has pitted every police story and action as fodder for the reason for our society’s decline.
The birth of social media and cell phone camera’s has fueled the story line that cops are derelict monsters preying on the american citizen.
Anything to advance or sell ad space.
Playing on human psychology to get more eyes on their site is really the end game.
Add in safe spaces, gun free zones, and now cry closets and you have an american society and culture that is almost un-recognizable.
Boxes
We love boxes.
It makes life easier. We have a box for everything.
We have a box for conservatives and a box for liberals.
We have a box for the second amendment. We have a box for school shootings.
We have boxes that we fill with our fears and boxes we fill with our hate.
We have a box for good. We have a box for evil.
The only box that we have that remains empty is logic.
Oh we try to put logic in the logic box but it falls apart quickly. The best example is one that infuriates me and almost every cop that must hear it.
“But cops know what they’re getting into, the dangers, the risks…”
You just can’t fit a square peg in a round hole.
“Worst Police leaders Have This One Trait”
Cops, in the most altruistic version, don’t wake up and hope they are martyred while doing their job. It just doesn’t work that way.
Our job is to enforce laws, uphold the constitutional rights of citizens and to help people who need and deserve justice.
And yes, most of us would take a bullet for you but only as the absolute last resort.
And one more thing.
I rarely, if ever, hear or see in social media your average Joe attempt to dole out there expert “novice” opinion on how and why a plane may have crashed.
Unlike police shootings, people tend to wait until all of the evidence has been reviewed by “experts” until they weigh in with their opinion.
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I have a fear of flying.
It feels unnatural. I know the risks (oh how I know them).
But never once have I thought to think, much less utter, such a heartless, cold and all together dumb statement.
“Well, they all knew the dangers of flying so..”
Can you imagine, after the next airline tragedy, a spokesman or news outlet rendered that statement?
Just recently a Southwest airline lost one its engines and had to make an emergency landing. Sadly, a female passenger, partially sucked halfway out her window, was killed during the tragedy.
The pilot, the other passengers, all touted as heroes. And rightly so.
Imagine hearing some asshole say, “but she knew the dangers of flying, the risks, no one forced her to sit next to that window…”
But I have heard this more than a few times from people who thought I wasn’t listening or worse, didn’t care, when cops die on the job.
Fortunately, we have a box for this type of person and thinking also.
You can find other ORIGINAL articles like this one and more at The Salty Sarge Facebook Page.
The public has no clue who we are as Police Officers. Their perceptions are based on Movies, TV, and the media. All Movies and TV cop shows are as realistic as a Daffy Duck cartoon to those of us in Law Enforcement. Even the tv show Cops is not real because no one acts natural when they know a camera is recording them. I have personally seen this happen.
I once had a liberal College Professor with me on a ride along. It was a quiet night, and we talked a lot, although it would seem we had nothing in common. Later he wrote a letter to my agency praising me and saying he hoped all cops were like me. This was probably the first time he actually met a Police Officer and spoke with one for any length of time. He probably would have said the same thing no matter who he rode with that night.
There is so much the public does not know about us, because no one tells them. For example, I believe I probably saved as many lives as any firefighter, yet I never got in the news. I am not asking for press time, I just get sick of only seeing cops who screwed up on TV. Also, how about that stereotype that says a cops wife cannot stand his job, and worries all the time? Geez, I spent most of my 28 year career on the street by choice. This year is our 49th wedding anniversary, and only once was she worried. As it turned out I was not at that particular televised mess.
It is easy for the Media to throw stones at Police Officers, and I doubt that a ride along would change their attitude, they enjoy their hatred too much. However, If the public was given a realistic picture of us, I think they would react in a positive way. Of course the media controls the information, so the lies about us are still fed to the public.
Media on a ride along? LOL. They woud see and report what they are PAID to report. Much of the public does have a more realistic picture of what police do and why. You do have supporters. It is the politicians (protected by their own armed guards) that we despise. Why are we less valuable and able to defend ourselves than they are with their armed guards? We simply can’t affort to pay individuals to guard us 24/7. That is why we rely on Law Enforcement and want access to our own lawful defense.
Yep, the media reports what it is paid to report. They are told what to bring back, no matter the facts of the case. I have been interviewed a couple of times by TV reporters and had my face on the tube for a few seconds each time. When you try to talk to the reporter or the cameraman it seems they dont hear anything you say unless its about what they were sent to get.
In Chicago we call them exempt rank.
I’m approaching 60 with almost 40 years of experience. I am to the point I’ve pretty well given up on society.
Bobby Kennedy said it best: “Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally
true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.”
Society is about to get the (Lack of) law enforcement it is insisting on.
Frankly, it is getting harder to worry about a society that wants to lionize thugs and vilify hard working police officers.
Absolutely! And what media doesn’t count on, are the great number of people who DO recognize what you stand for and what you do for us. Stay safe, please don’t give up on us. Now politicians want to disarm us so we cannot protect ourselves. What? Do they want criminals to override the rest of us? What would we do without Law Enforcement? And we DO realize that you can’t be everywhere and need the public to give you information you need to do you jobs.